A Blast from the Past

Welcome to the site dedicated to the memory of a historic Top 40 A.M. radio station, WIXZ 1360 AM!

WIXY 1260 was a station known and loved by many living in the Cleveland/Akron area in the late 60’s to mid 70’s. WIXY1260Online was re-born in 2011 and we've strived to recreate the original station as best as possible while taking advantage of modern technologies and listener trends.

WIXZ 1360 was WIXY’s sister station in McKeesport, PA, and shared WIXY’s popular format. In an effort to continue to increase its listener base, WIXY established an outpost in McKeesport (near Pittsburgh, PA) with the WIXZ call letters.

The TL Sound

...Along with Porky Chedwick, Clark Race, and KQV icons like Chuck Brinkman, TL (Terry Lee) was rock radio royalty in this region. The New Eagle native, born Terrance Lee Albert Trunzo, was a musician who got into radio accidentally when a disc jockey scheduled to appear at a dance he was playing pulled a no-show.

He made his name both on the air at various stations before settling at WMCK in McKeesport and continued when the station became WIXZ, known for what he and his fans called "The TL Sound" in 1964.

Miscellaneous

WIXZ was owned in the late 60's by Wain & Weiss who made the station a carbon copy of their successful top-40, 1260 WIXY in Cleveland. Jeff Christie (Rush Limbaugh) and voice-over artist Mark Roberts were a couple of the voices you could hear on the air. If you take a further step back, you will find that 1360 was once WMCK with a call sign that could truly identify its location. At that time it had the "TL" Sound and Terry Lee's Music for Young Lovers which carried over to WIXZ.

1360 Goes Off the Air

History of WIXZ 1360's sister station, WIXY 1260

11/1965 - After quitting their jobs as account executives at WHK-AM in July 1964, Bob Weiss, Norman Wain and Joe Zingale form the Westchester Corporation and purchase WFAS radio in White Plains (Westchester County), New York. They take control in December 1964, and in November the following year, they assume control of WDOK-AM & FM.

12/12/1965 - WDOK-AM becomes "WIXY 1260". The call letters are inspired by Detroit's WXYZ, and the similarity in sound between the call letters and the frequency. The original lineup includes Al Gates (6-10 am), Howie Lund (10-1 pm), Johnny Michaels (1-4 pm), Johnny Canton (4-7 pm), and Mark Allen (7-11 pm). Then comes "The World Tomorrow" from 11 to 11:30, followed by "Project 1260", a news/public affairs program hosted by Fred Griffith, from 11:30 to midnight. Bobby Magic has the all-night show, from midnight to 6 am. Mark Allen later takes the name Bob Dearborn when he moves on to WCFL / Chicago, and Bobby Magic programs WDMT-FM for a time in the 1980's. WIXY's original pop music format is called "chicken rock", but that label is quickly dropped, and after one month WIXY goes typical Top 40. Among the news staff are Bob Engel, Fred Griffith, Garry Ritchie, and Mike Dix..

WIXZ 1360 is Given New Life

In an attempt to give WIXY1260Online a wider listener base, WIXZ1360Online was established and included a more modern playlist and the original WIXZ 1360 jingles. After a five year run, WIXZ1360Online, much like the original WIXZ, never gained the traction its owners envisioned, and was taken off the air September, 2018.

A Look Inside

The Original DJs of WIXZ 1360 AM

Born in Elmira, NY, George attended Ithaca State College and worked at WOLF as well as other stations in New York and Michigan before moving to WPOP in Hartford to replace Roy Cooper on the 3:00-7:00PM shift.
On July 7, 1966, George broke the world's record (at the time) for the longest roller coaster ride at Riverside Park by going round and round 310 times over 12 1/2 hours. By that time he was hosting WPOP's wakeup show from 5:30-9:00AM.
George left WPOP for WIXY Cleveland and later worked at WIXZ near Pittsburgh. He was working in the promotions department of CBS Records when he passed away in 1973.

The Butler did it! Jerry Butler was brought in from WIXZ/McKeesport, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh. He began entertaining New Englanders on June 21, 1969. His last show was in October, 1970, because they needed him at KHJ/Los Angeles.

Tragically, Jerry took his own life in the summer of 1976, in California, after a stint at KGIL, also in Los Angeles.

A generation of McKeesporters (PA) who came of age in the late 1960s fondly remember McKeesport's WIXZ (1360) as the fun, free-wheeling, slightly scruffier pop-music alternative to Pittsburgh's KQV (1410). But around the country --- at least in radio circles --- WIXZ is remembered as the station that fired Rush Limbaugh from his first radio job! That's right. The voice of the conservative revolution of the 1990s and the man who helped save AM talk radio couldn't hold a gig in McKeesport.
(Source: http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/christie.html)

Jeff Christie ("Rush Limbaugh")

Aircheck was inaudible

He moved to WIXZ in Pittsburgh (1973) before heading back to the West Coast three years later. While in Pittsburgh, he briefly hosted a late night television show entitled "Jazzbeauxz (with a 'z') Rehearsal", an eclectic sampling of anything that caught Collins' interest at the time, including a long-running hard-boiled-egg spinning contest. He conducted the program from a barber chair, as he had on a previous TV show.

Al Collins
('Jazzbeaux' / 'Jazzbo' )

Aircheck not found

Spent a brief stint at WIXZ in 1971. As of 2013 Bill was still at Sirius XM, on Channel 13, Elvis Radio, on Saturday Nights; in addition he's a prominent announcer on the NBC TV net; have been doing the commercial billboards for Saturday Night Live since 2001; Bill also does imaging for stations and his company (Bill Rock Productions, Bridgeport, CT) produces radio and TV shows plus radio and TV commercials and imaging.

The Wilde Childe WAS wild...probably one of the loudest DJs ever on WIXY! Stayed at WIXY for 2 years, then went to WIXY's sister station WIXZ in McKeesport, PA. Dick is now retired and living in Alaska.

Terry Lee will always be remembered as one of the three disc jockeys whose record discoveries helped define what we now call the Pittsburgh sound, said former area broadcaster Ed Weigle.
To this day, oldies record collectors categorize songs as either Porky Records, 'Mad Mike Moldie Oldies' or The T.L. Sound,' said Weigle, who did voice overs for Trunzo's Magic webcasts. He was unique among the jocks (because of) his movie-star good looks, which brought him quite a bit of local success on television.

While he's best known for his work in western New York, Mindy has jocked on the west coast at KCBS-FM San Francisco and KNEW Oakland, in the midwest at KXOK St. Louis, in Michigan at WJR Detroit and WTRX Flint and near the east coast in Connecticut at WTIC Hartford.

Mindy's first paid gig was at WGVA Geneva, N.Y., in 1962. He made his first Buffalo appearance in 1967 at WYSL, and would later jock in the Queen City at WBEN (1978-87) and at WWKB for a short time in 1987. Mindy's resume also includes WHEN and WFBL Syracuse, N.Y., WIXZ Pittsburgh and WHAM Rochester, N.Y. He finished his career in 2015 at WGMC Greece, N.Y., ending his longest-ever stay at one station, 13 years.

Mike McGann grew up in Pittsburgh. He joined WTAE in September 1973 after spending 13 months at WIXZ in McKeesport. The Smiling Irishman stayed with WTAE until 1976 when he moved over to the FM side on 96 KX. After leaving Pittsburgh, Mike's stops included WRKZ in Hershey (VP/GM), WISR in Butler (VP/GM), and WPRR in Altoona (GM).
Mike returned to Pittsburgh where he was program director and handled afternoons at WJAS from 2002 until 2008.